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Seven peacekeepers killed near border

Sat, Jun 9, 2012, 01:00

Seven United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an ambush in Ivory Coast yesterday while on patrol near the border with Liberia, the UN mission said.

A spokeswoman for the mission said: “According to the provisional death toll, seven blue helmets were killed in an ambush . . . seven blue helmets from Niger.” It was not immediately clear who attacked the troops or whether any Ivorian troops they were patrolling with were harmed.

The world’s top cocoa grower is recovering from months of violence last year that followed a 2010 election. The vote was won by Alassane Ouattara but incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down until defeated by UN-backed local forces. Human Rights Watch has warned that Liberian and Ivorian fighters who fought on behalf of Gbagbo last year were launching attacks on Ivory Coast from Liberia. – (Reuters)